For any great event to take place, the right people at the right place is one of the important requisites. There could not have been a better person than S.K. Jain, at helm of affairs of NPCIL & BHAVINI, only two Government Companies currently responsible for the execution of nuclear power programme in the country at a time when the country is poised for multiplication rather than addition of the nuclear capacity. Jain has played a crucial role in bringing the country to its high level of competence in nuclear programme. NPCIL, a Public Sector Undertaking spearheading India's nuclear power programme with its sixteen reactors in operation and six reactors in advanced stages of construction. The operation of the reactors at high utilization factors, construction of new reactors within approved cost and ahead of schedule has put India's nuclear capabilities amongst best utilities in the world. The excellent safety record, 251 reactor-years of accident free operations, ISO certified Environment Management Systems at all the stations, qualified and licensed manpower and the results of international peer reviews have all demonstrated commercial maturity NPCIL has achieved. On commercial front, NPCIL is a consistently profit making and dividend paying Company, the financial institutions have accorded AAA status. The Company has built adequate reserves and surpluses to support a large expansion programme without need of support from the Government. No wonder many international organizations have started looking for a partner in NPCIL for setting up new reactors or renovations and safety upgrades.

Jain has worked for 220 MWe nuclear power reactors initially for along time and contributed very significantly in India first standardized 220 MWe reactors at Narora. Before he was elevated to CMD position, he has headed a team for evaluating and setting up 1000 MWe Light Water Reactors at Kudankulam.

Jain has dedicated himself to increase the nuclear power generation capacity in the country consistent with the available resources in a self reliant, safe, economical and rapid manner in keeping with the growth of energy demand in the country. As the CMD, Jain is the Chief Executive of the company and looks after the day to day affairs of NPCIL under the superintendence of the Board of Directors. Jain is a visionary who through his "Vision 2020", deemed it possible and necessary to have an installed Nuclear Power Capacity of 20,000 MWe by the year 2020. Considering that the nuclear power is a safe and environmentally clean source of power generation and that India has vast thorium reserves, he strongly believes that NPCIL is poised to play a leading role in future to meet the ever increasing energy demands of the country.

NPCIL has already added 1180 MWe nuclear capacity in the country as compared to the target of 1300 MWe in 10th Plan and 2660 MWe will be added in the first 2 years of 11th Plan.

Jain joined the Department of Atomic Energy in the year 1969, the year in which India's first two Nuclear Power Stations became operational, and has been associated with the programme in different capacities since then.

The construction works of India's first commercial fast breeder power reactor, signifying launch of the second stage programme by BHAVINI are proceeding fast under Chairmanship of Jain. This reactor on completion will be one the very next generation reactors of the world since many countries are looking into the options of fast reactors to solve the used fuel problem. India will be quite ahead of others in this regard. As regards future plans Jain has already set forth his vision of collaborating with other international partners to achieve the targets. He is also pursuing his vision of diversification of the company's activities in other conventional and renewable sources of energy.

Jain's visionary skills and the tenacity to see them through are greatly admired by all those who have known or even met him. He is very simple, unassuming man who is also an excellent leader. He shares his visionary thoughts and gets the best out of his team and no wonder, with Jain at the helm of NPCIL and BHAVINI, India's nuclear power programme is poised for a quantum jump.